Nothing I saw last year points to this. Not only the play on the field, but the decisions of the coach pointed to none of them being quite what CBJ needed to win games. Granted, we have not seen Ferguson, however what we do know is that CBJ decided to burn Dobb's red shirt first. The path of least resistance would suggest that this means Dobbs was more ready to play than Ferguson.
The leg issue (as mentioned above) seems to have played a role between Ferguson and Dobbs. I think Dobbs has some of the characteristics that fit the offense but he looked like a FR during most of his first shot. I don't think he is completely out of the mix as some do.
This is what I think is true. somebody threw out there that the two young ones were "elite 11". Whatever. I go by rivals.com and so far I have no reason to back out on that. We have three 3* QBs (Ferguson, Dobbs and Worley) and a 4* QB (Peterman), and the 4* QB is showing the least talent of all of them. If the younger two are "pushing" the senior, its because CBJ isnt very comfortable with the senior. If you have two players of equal ability (physically and mentally), but one is a senior with more experience and the other is a freshman, you start the senior. No brainer. But that isnt our case, clearly. If Worley wasnt that good as a junior, I seriously doubt he became so much better now that he is a senior. He had his time in college football to improve, and it just isnt happening. The two freshmen, however could have improved greatly from year 1 to year 2, becoming acclimated to college football. They however were good enough last year to get on the field, but still not good enough to overtake Worley? Sounds to me that its more like all of the QBs are still basically in the same boat as they were last year, just another year older.
Based on which schools offered these players scollys and who those other schools took INSTEAD, it is easy to see that these guys ended up at UT because of 2 reasons: UT's program was a dumpster fire and secondly and more importantly they saw the writing on the wall that said they could fight for a starting job at UT or be the 3rd string QB for one of the other schools. I could make the specific case for each QB, but dont want to type it all out in one post. What I said above just about covers it in a very broad way.
Butch Jones is fighting to rebuild the program and just lost his entire front line(s). He knew this before he took the job. He knows his job isnt going to be in jeopardy after year 2. He will continue to "get by" with what he has until he gets more of his recruits in place in other areas.
At this point I think the question of "who will be the starting QB?" is a moot point. I fully expect to see 2-3 QBs on the field for UT this year, maybe all 4 if injuries are an issue, which they darn well could be given a whole new O-line. One can only hope that Hurd can have a historic first impression on UT and take the heat off of the QB.
Hopefully this is not the correct answer because even with better skill players these QBs are gonna have to be better than average IMO. And that includes next year when Worley is gone.
